Movies: Past, present and future

Study: Few gains for women in key movie industry creative jobs

January 24, 2012 | 12:02am

Despite the attention being paid to "Bridesmaids" this awards season, women are not making significant gains in the U.S. movie business, according to a report being issued Tuesday by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University.

Women made up 18% of all directors, producers, writers, cinematographers and editors working on the top 250 highest-grossing movies last year, an uptick from the 16% figure recorded for 2009 and 2010 but only one percentage point better than when the center began compiling employment statistics in 1998, executive director Martha M. Lauzen reported.

Only 5% of the directors of last year's surveyed films were women, the center said, compared with 7% in 2010 and 9% in 1998.

Of the other jobs examined, the study found that women comprised 25% of producers, 20% of editors, 18% of executive producers, 14% of writers and 4% of cinematographers.

It also reported that among the 250 films, 96% had no female cinematographers, 94% had no female directors, 77% had no female writers, 76% had no female editors, 59% had no female executive producers and 36% had no female producers.